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Small Publishers on RPGNow
- Thread starter Suhyevi
- Start date
Sledge
First Post
Yes I meant vendors. If you want to use the mall analogy imagine this. You have your pretty and beautiful mall. Tucked behind it is a strip mall. Except whereas in real life the less visible strip will generally have a lower rent, the strip mall will actually have the higher rent. Inside the mall are only big stores. Any of those kiosks are now kicked out to the parking lot of the strip mall, and still charged full strip mall rent.
For the record I don't think the people at RPGNow are evil. I simply think they are moving toward a very foolish decision. Not out of malice, or even greed, just out of a desire to keep food on the table.
As for the art redo I've only heard of it as a prettying up. If there is a rumour of actual reorganization of the site rather than splitting it apart, I'd love to hear it. The knowledge that they are planning to split it implies to me however that they will give us 2 sites with the same general organization as now.
As for the results of two different locations when you can "teleport", the poll on rpgnow says that 31% never shop elsewhere and that 38% only look elsewhere if they can't find what they want on rpgnow first. There are about 30% of customers that are actually willing to look around. So if as a small vendor you believe this will benefit you understand that most likely you'll end up in a situation where you have 50% more appearance on a site with 1/3 the traffic/sales. Or roughly half the sales. Meanwhile have you checked to find out that the main site will indeed have the lower rates of the two sites? This is what I've heard and unless I am wrong (which I could be, but doubt it) you will end up with 1/2 the money coming in that you used to have and higher rates than ever.
The fact of the matter is that rpgnow have had this idea for a while. They just recently put up a survey. Obviously if they were actually interested in whether customers would enjoy such a change they could have checked. Instead they have questions about integrating rpgnow and rpgshop. So why didn't they check? They had already made that decision. If they put it up on the site, they would have difficulty justifying it if the majority of customers disliked it. I suspect that rpgnow was hoping to keep this very low profile. Make it all sound nice. The fact of the matter however is that this won't improve anything for customers. I'm assuming this is what Black Angus is talking about. Rpgnow isn't looking for options. They've got their plan and it's their site, so they can do it.
And to anyone that thinks I'm overreacting, well hopefully I am. This is the internet after all. Postulating theories is really our bread and butter. I'm not however suggesting any outrageous behaviour because of this.
I'm still a fan of rpgnow and am especially frustrated because rpgnow is moving more and more towards the middle of the pack for pdf sales, when they ought to working on new innovative ideas. Moving to an "elite" only store style is not exactly a new idea.
For the record I don't think the people at RPGNow are evil. I simply think they are moving toward a very foolish decision. Not out of malice, or even greed, just out of a desire to keep food on the table.
As for the art redo I've only heard of it as a prettying up. If there is a rumour of actual reorganization of the site rather than splitting it apart, I'd love to hear it. The knowledge that they are planning to split it implies to me however that they will give us 2 sites with the same general organization as now.
As for the results of two different locations when you can "teleport", the poll on rpgnow says that 31% never shop elsewhere and that 38% only look elsewhere if they can't find what they want on rpgnow first. There are about 30% of customers that are actually willing to look around. So if as a small vendor you believe this will benefit you understand that most likely you'll end up in a situation where you have 50% more appearance on a site with 1/3 the traffic/sales. Or roughly half the sales. Meanwhile have you checked to find out that the main site will indeed have the lower rates of the two sites? This is what I've heard and unless I am wrong (which I could be, but doubt it) you will end up with 1/2 the money coming in that you used to have and higher rates than ever.
The fact of the matter is that rpgnow have had this idea for a while. They just recently put up a survey. Obviously if they were actually interested in whether customers would enjoy such a change they could have checked. Instead they have questions about integrating rpgnow and rpgshop. So why didn't they check? They had already made that decision. If they put it up on the site, they would have difficulty justifying it if the majority of customers disliked it. I suspect that rpgnow was hoping to keep this very low profile. Make it all sound nice. The fact of the matter however is that this won't improve anything for customers. I'm assuming this is what Black Angus is talking about. Rpgnow isn't looking for options. They've got their plan and it's their site, so they can do it.
And to anyone that thinks I'm overreacting, well hopefully I am. This is the internet after all. Postulating theories is really our bread and butter. I'm not however suggesting any outrageous behaviour because of this.
I'm still a fan of rpgnow and am especially frustrated because rpgnow is moving more and more towards the middle of the pack for pdf sales, when they ought to working on new innovative ideas. Moving to an "elite" only store style is not exactly a new idea.
cleavthorn
Explorer
Since everyone else is giving their unsolicited opinion, heres mine:
1). Its their company.
2). Its their decision on how they choose to run said company.
3). Its their accountability for their decisions, good or bad for their company.
4). A private company may, at its descretion, ask for input from their target audience, but it isn't a right of said consumer.
5). I like the word "company".
Thanks.
1). Its their company.
2). Its their decision on how they choose to run said company.
3). Its their accountability for their decisions, good or bad for their company.
4). A private company may, at its descretion, ask for input from their target audience, but it isn't a right of said consumer.
5). I like the word "company".
Thanks.
smokewolf
First Post
Sledge said:
As a vendor at RPGNOW party to the private discussions, to correct, there is no talk of raising rates for some or lower rates for others. Several vendors have asked, however, no one from RPGNOW has commented on this officially. Not sure where you got you information from.
Sledge said:
Not wishing to get into specifics here, but RPGNOW has been discussing options for over a week now with its vendors. Any current plans are due to very detailed and intense private discussions with its vendors. While there are some dissenting voices, the majority of vendors involved in the discussion (the majority of which are directly affected by this discussion) have viewed this as something positive for both themselves and RPGNOW. Its an oppertunity, maybe not the golden ring, but any oppertunity is what you make of it.
Now, I am not an RPGNOW official, just a publisher selling at RPGNOW.
smokewolf
First Post
elforcelf said:
Not sure where you got this from, but this is incorrect. We have seen the prelimary guidelines and they are more detailed than this. I think people will be surprised once they see what really is happening and what the future will bring. I for one am positive and can't wait to improve myself, my products and my interaction with customers.
Vigilance
Explorer
If anyone else has had confidential email from RPGNow shared with them from a bogus account as a result of their participation in this thread, would you please post to this thread?
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=2610229#post2610229
Thank you.
Chuck
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=2610229#post2610229
Thank you.
Chuck
BlackAngus
First Post
GMSkarka said:
The Sticky is dated 9/22 and the decision was made 9/23. Sounds like a shoot first and ask questions later type of decision.
BlackAngus
BSF
Explorer
Wow! Quite the debate. I am probably not helping here, but I will pipe up from my perspective. Why? Because I have done so in the past, and I will do so in the future. I don't expect to influence any policy, but hey, I am a customer. So maybe some of you will find my perspective, singular though it may (or may not) be, to be useful.
I don't quite see the big deal here. First of all, this isn't the first time the idea has come up. Secondly, I honestly don't see most of the products anymore. I have higher bandwidth connections than I have in the past, but there isn't time for me to hunt and peck for stuff.
Search is useful, but it is only as good as your descriptions. There have been products out there that I remember seeing blurbs about, but cannot find on RPGNow using any keywords I can think of. So while there may be changes RPGNow can put in place to make it better to search, you also need to remember that you need to represent your products effectively.
There are too many products for me to go through so increasingly I am just sticking with the folks I know and recognize.
I hope small publishers can be successful, but when it is too much work for me to find you, I am not going to buy your stuff.
I can see concerns with losing the exposure to the 'big boys'. But I also see advantages to splitting the sales base and making it quicker and easier for me to find you. *shrug* So long as it isn't any more inconvenient to me than it already is, I don't see a net loss. If the changes make things more convenient, than it is a net gain.
I don't quite see the big deal here. First of all, this isn't the first time the idea has come up. Secondly, I honestly don't see most of the products anymore. I have higher bandwidth connections than I have in the past, but there isn't time for me to hunt and peck for stuff.
Search is useful, but it is only as good as your descriptions. There have been products out there that I remember seeing blurbs about, but cannot find on RPGNow using any keywords I can think of. So while there may be changes RPGNow can put in place to make it better to search, you also need to remember that you need to represent your products effectively.
There are too many products for me to go through so increasingly I am just sticking with the folks I know and recognize.
I hope small publishers can be successful, but when it is too much work for me to find you, I am not going to buy your stuff.
I can see concerns with losing the exposure to the 'big boys'. But I also see advantages to splitting the sales base and making it quicker and easier for me to find you. *shrug* So long as it isn't any more inconvenient to me than it already is, I don't see a net loss. If the changes make things more convenient, than it is a net gain.
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